Vegan / Whole Food diet?

I’m sure big-agro wouldn’t have it any other way.

The UK is playing with Brexit. The gov’t talks about a big trade deal with the USA. The USA negotiators have told the UK very bluntly that if they want to do a deal over food, the UK will have to drop a lot of their hard-won food safety laws (from the EU).

This is not going to sit well with the UK public.

Cheers

I don’t blame them. Back in the early 90s, I once ate a sausage from a chippy in Lancashire.  They really needed the laws.

“… but I’m wondering if anyone has tried it and what their experiences might have been?”

My wife is pretty good at this. She makes thick soups, stews, risottos, hummus, etc., all vegan or darn close, dehydrates measured portions, and zaps them once or twice in a blender to reduce the pointy parts, then packages them in ziplocks.  She includes Laura bars and “healthy” crackers in the mix.  Her food comes to about 1.35 pounds/day. (Most days for her are under 10 miles.)

If you cook like this at home, you can eat like this on the trail.

Greg, could you ask her whether she adds any salt to the homemade stuff (including salt that may be in ingredients such as canned peas or beans, for instance) and whether there’s any salt in the crackers?

Thanks!

Bill S.

^^^

She doesn’t do “canned”.  She generally follows the recipe. If it calls for salt she adds salt.

What are you trying to get at?

My take on salt is that it is an over-hyped bogey man.  Salt (sodium) in high sweat activities is a requirement as we loose about 1 gram of salt for every liter of sweat. For the rest of the time, on a healthy diet, just be reasonable.

You hear a lot of mumbo jumbo about “refined salt” and sea salt etc etc. I’ve no idea what that is.

To quote a famous astrophysicist (who should know a little about salt): “All salt is sea salt”

Just an FYI: All table salt is sea salt. Mined salt just happens to come from long-buried, evaporated, prehistoric seas.

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 16, 2015

The other very important point that is often missed: there is huge variability in salt requirements between individuals especially for extended endurance activities.

Check out Tim Noakes book Waterlogged on the topic of hydration and endurance activity. Yes he changed his mind since he wrote “Lore of Running”.

http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/waterlogged

Personally I need more salt than most other people for similar activities especially on long runs on warm days.

“What are you trying to get at?”

Added salt was part of the OP’s original question. As the thread evolved, I’ve been interested to see what the lowest amounts of sodium are that people consume while backpacking, and what their sources are if they don’t add any salt.

Bill S.

Added salt was part of the OP’s original question. As the thread evolved, I’ve been interested to see what the lowest amounts of sodium are that people consume while backpacking, and what their sources are if they don’t add any salt.

This is exactly what I’m trying to figure out too. This thread has been enlightening to me. After researching sodium contents of PBF, I can’t figure out how the math works out without adding salt – at least if you’re hiking in warm conditions.

My ignorance of this topic (backpacking w/PBF) is revealed because I just don’t backpack much in warm weather. My primary season of outdoor activity coincides with winter months, and I’ve lived in the Northern Rockies for the past 23 years. I’ve hiked in 80+ degree temperatures maybe once in the past five years.

I think I’ll keep salted chips and nuts in my diet as I continue this experiment!

same here, don’t do that much backpacking in the summer, too hot

winter is good – not too many other people

September is about the best – cooling down, people go back to school, bugs die off

“After researching sodium contents of PBF, I can’t figure out how the math works out without adding salt”

It doesn’t happen without some planning, which was my point, but in a word, broccoli.  5000 calories of broccoli has about 5 grams of sodium. :)  Kale and others from the species that includes broccoli, kale and some others are also good sources of sodium.  Spinach is even better.  They’re also good protein sources (as a proportion of their macronutrient levels), but not all that practical as a calorie source.  You could probably get to a reasonable sodium level by combining generous portions of them with some more traditional backpacking foods if you were committed to it.  Or you could add a little salt. :)

Best,

Bill